While Henrik wasn’t available, Daniel Sedin joined Sportsnet 650 on Tuesday to discuss running the marathon and his future plans.

Sedin stated that he and his brother are enjoying time with the family and like to spend their summers in Sweden. He said that it’s been a year since retirement and they would like to find something in Vancouver.

“We know a lot about hockey. We’ve been around for lots of years. It has to be the right fit.”

When asked about the potential of joining the scouting staff for the Canucks, Daniel hinted that the travel would probably be too much.

“I know the scouts. How much they travel. How much work they put in. So much respect to those guys. The amount of work they put in. That’s the travel part. That’s one thing we’re not really looking forward to doing again.”

“It’s tough to say. We haven’t really thought about it too much.”

The Sedin Twins are very passionate about working with children. They donated $1.5 million to help build a new BC Children’s Hospital in 2010 and it seems that passion hasn’t faded since their retirement.

Daniel and his wife, Marinette, have three children. Henrik and Johanna Sedin have two. Listening to Daniel on Sportsnet 650, it would seem that he would like to continue helping the children in the province of BC.

Daniel also gave praise to the rookie phenom Elias Pettersson and current head coach Travis Green.

“He had such a good season in Sweden so I knew it was possible that he could be good over here. I think he surprised everyone, including me. I also like the way they play. The whole team. It looks like everyone has bought into Travis Green and the coaching staff. That’s the best sign. That everyone is on the same page. That’s the biggest part of being a successful team.”

“They [Canucks] aren’t far off to be honest with you. You add a few players there. It’s a good team.”

The Canucks will be retiring No. 22 and No. 33 next year during the team’s 50th anniversary season.

11 Comments |

I hope they do something substantive, like player development to get their feet wet into the business and process of sports instead of making them co-president without any experience. Seen that movie, and it sucked.

And for those opining the team to get a president, Trevor oversaw the Sutter and Guddy trade, and the Erickson signing – which has legitimately set the team back by 5 years…..

Those moves sucked, but it’s ridiculously hyperbolic to say those moves set the team back five years. I’d certainly prefer Nick Bonino, Jared McCann, a couple 2nd round picks and some cap space, over what the team got, but:

1. Benning made those moves. A President of Hockey Operations sets a general direction for the team but the GM typically has autonomy over those sorts of trades and signings.
2. Undo those moves and this team is better, yes, but we’re talking about a marginal difference, not the difference between finishing in the 20s and being a cup contender.

I know its out of the scope of the article and my comment but I simply don’t see why FA would hire someone at $4-5 million/year to be president to alter the course the team is currently at. All those moves I alluded to earlier are sunk costs, and I concede that its debatable on the extent that they have put the team back – the team is likely exactly where it is now even without those moves. That said, I would like to see the Sedins getting involved with the team, as I think they are a valuable resource.

If next year’s roster includes the number of young players it looks like it does (especially if they’re integrating Hughes, and Juolevi plus full seasons for Demko and Gaudette in addition to Pettersson, Boeser and hopefully Goldobin) it’d be great to have the Sedins added in as player development gurus with a focus on training and being successful off the ice. If they’d consent to a monthly or maybe every couple of months out to Utica, they could help out the Comets too. Such consummate pros on and off the ice, it would seem like a great way to ease them into a position like that.

A good parallel would be Rick Nash who retired from CBJ in January and has spent the past six months basically shadowing the GM and learning about hockey operations. Not an official position but learning as he goes with no real pressure. I still disagree that guys like Linden or Gillis didn’t have the requisite skills or experience (or Benning for that matter). You can critique their decisions but they have all had tons of time immersed in various aspects of the game (players union, agent, scouting) and I think the Sedins would similarly benefit from immersion in some part of the organization.

Unfortunately, marathon running is not a very healthy activity. You can actually see it in the picture of the Sedins. When running long distances your free radical production outpaces your body’s neutralizing capacity and they damage your tissues. You can see it in their faces! They are in their late thirties but have older faces than some in their fifties.
Also when running long distance, your body can’t keep-up with energy needs by fat- burning, especially if carb-loading as the resulting elevated insulin locks fat stores in and difficult to access. As a result the body breaks down muscle to utilize amino acids for energy. That’s why marathon runners have such thin stringy muscles. You can already see the muscle wasting in the Sedin picture.
Biopsies of dead marathon runner’s hearts as well as scans of living runner’s hearts show considerable microscopic damage throughout the heart muscle.

And they’ve probably backed off the weights since they’re no longer playing hockey.

And your body doesn’t “break down muscle” when running. When running you burn sugar stored in your muscles for precisely that purpose. During a marathon you can run out, but you don’t start burning muscle, you burn fat, which is hard to do, which is why it’s often referred to as “hitting the wall”.

Runners have smaller stringier muscles because your body develops muscle mass in response to the type of exercise you perform, and thin stringy muscles are great for endurance!!

And I don’t even know what the heart damage thing you’re talking about it.